This account is pending registration confirmation. Please click on the link within the confirmation email previously sent you to complete registration.Need a new registration confirmation email? Click here

Apple Maps has been a bit of a black eye for Apple, forcing the
company to apologize. Such was the furore over Apple Maps that CEO Tim Cook wrote a public apology on the tech giant's
Web site. "At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers," Cook wrote as part of the letter, adding that Apple Maps fell short of this commitment. "We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better."

The maps fiasco ultimately led to the
ouster of Apple's head of iOS, Scott Forstall, in a major shakeup.

Google noted on
its blog that the new app is a lot better than its predecessor, and Apple's offering. "At the heart of this app is our constantly improving map of the world that includes detailed information for more than 80 million businesses and points of interest," Google wrote on its blog.

Apple shares were lower on not only the Google map news, but also reports that the company has been accused of violating certain patents.

Bloomberg Newstweeted that a U.S. court has ruled that Apple's iPhone infringes upon three patents from
MobileMedia, a company which owns a slew of technology-related patents.

Apple shares were off 1.88% to $529.11 in Thursday trading.

Facebook(FB - Get Report) shares jumped 1.04% to $27.87 on rumors the social network would be included in the
S&P 500, as Topeka Capital Markets analyst Victor Anthony speculated in a research note.

"We see three catalysts for Facebook in 2013: 1) monetizing Instagram; 2) launch of the search engine; and 3) potential S&P 500 inclusion. We assign a greater than 50% probability to each occurring at various points in 2013, with the first two, positively impacting 2014 estimates," Anthony wrote in the note.